With increasing global population and continuing modernization in developed countries, the amount of waste generated due to processing food, lumber, paper and other products has become a serious problem. The treatment of biological sludge, including municipal sewage sludge, has become an increasingly difficult due to the large volumes of such wastes. There is an increased environmental awareness and body of regulations covering the processing and disposal of such waste. There are few methods by which to stabilize such wastes, either by heat treatment, burning, composting or through chemical treatment and landfilling. These have major future repercussions. Composting is expensive, time consuming, and causes off odors and possible outbreaks of disease. Burning only defers the problem, and adds to the accumulation of various compounds in our atmosphere. Landfills, presently deployed by most advanced societies, make the land unusable for extended periods of time, due to generation of various gases from by-products of decomposition. Biopolymeric waste from food production and food cleaning frequently represents lost nutritional value in addition to the disposal problem.
The protection of viable seeds within the horticultural fields is also a serious problem. Seeds in presently marketed form become inactivated or lose viability when damaged, e.g. by automated loading or conveying equipment, or from falling onto cement or other hard surfaces.
The containment of water and nutritional factors around the seed to aid growing of the seeds to a stable seedling, is being investigated. Economics of such products and processes are the key factors in their application to a given market. A collection of seeds in a protective fertilizer shell would be ideal for most markets within this field, and for the airborne application of seeding for trees and other larger plants, as in reseeding of a forest. If the fertilizer carrier is designed to protect the seed as well as stay intact during application and handling of the seed, then most of the above problems are solved.
The protection of seeds extends beyond agriculture and horticulture, given the widespread popularity of sunflower seeds and other seeds as a pet food, primarily for birds. Such foods can include non-viable seeds, seed fragments and other particulates such as chopped nuts. In any event, certain needs and preferences arise in addition to protection, e.g. providing nutritional balance, aiding digestion, and product presentation and acceptability.